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Race and Maternal Health

The pregnancy related mortality ration (PRMR) represents the number of deaths per 100,000 live births which are a result of pregnancy or pregnancy related causes. A 2019 report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that the PRMRs of Black women and American Indian women in the United States are 3-4 times higher than that of White women. For White women during 2019, there were an approximate 13 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. For Black and American Indian women, there were 41 and 30 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births respectively. The majority of these deaths were due to preventable diseases associated with pregnancy related mortality, such as hypertension. While the fatality rate of these diseases was higher among Black and American Indian women, the initial prevalence was generally the same across all races.

The CDC cites multiple possible causes for the racial gap in maternal mortality. They say that most pregnancy related deaths are the combined result of 3-4 contributing factors. For Black and American Indian women, this can include issues of implicit racial bias held by healthcare providers, which affects the quality of care given to treat preventable diseases. These factors can also be more structural (e.g. the gap in access to primary and preventative care in minority communities). In the CDC study, economic status was not cited as a leading cause of maternal mortality. While economic status and education level can be one of the contributing factors to maternal mortality, the racial gap was shown to persist across all economic and education levels.